In 1604 Hondius bought the plates of Gerard Mercator’s atlas, added about 40 maps to Mercator’s original number, and from 1606 published enlarged editions in many languages still under Mercator’s name, but with his own name as publisher. These atlases have become known as the Mercator/Hondius series. The following year the maps were re-engraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor.